English vocals, other languages
International relevance: *
International relevance: *
I've been dilly-dallying forever whether to include this album here or not until finally deciding to go for it. After all, it has many enough credentials to at least put it in the fringe progg category, including trumpeter Jan Allan's affiliations with people like Hawkey Franzén, Merit Hemmingson et al, and session bassist Mike Watson who played on too many progg albums to even start counting.
Tayfun Karatekin had several singles released in his native Turkey when he arrived in Sweden to record this one, rare (highly sought-after by some) and lavishly produced album with touches of horn rock, funk, jazz, asphalt soul. First album by American lesbian rights band Isis sometimes leaps to mind. Tayfun himself is a powerful singer, with a rich baryton voice that at times has a striking resemblance to 60's Scott Walker. It must have been tempting to Tayfun to oversing with a distinctive and forceful voice like that, but thankfully he sticks to his guns and avoid going Tom Jones all over the music. I like his voice and I think it keeps the songs fresh even when the material itself is only so-so and the arrangements tend to become a bit bloated with brass, choir, and woodwinds. The strings on "It Didn't Do You Good", supplied by Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra, works pretty well in this context though. There's also some really wild fuzz guitar unexpectedly bursting loose on "Mercedes Bus" and "I'll Never Find Another You".
I can't really recommend "Stardust
International & Tayfun" to a progg fan, but I do think it
has other qualities that comes through the bombast. It's definitely a
product of its time, simply because they don't make albums like this
anymore. Although I'm fully aware the album won't sit that well with a lot of
readers of this blog, I'm also a sucker for good singers musical enough to hold a tune why I
actually found it rather enjoyable.
Full album playlist
Full album playlist
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